[NU Sports] hot off the presses

[Mike Nolan]

> Those of you who watch "The Pat Fitzgerald Show" already have some insight
> into the excellence of the Ryan Field grounds crew. The Cats like to play
> fast, and Randy Stoneberg and his crew, as we learned on last week's
> editions of "TPFS," make sure that's the way Ryan Field plays.
> 
> This particular award, should you be inclined to read the release, is in
> large part due to the successful program to eradicate "Poa Annua grass"
> from the Ryan Field turf, replacing it with ryegrass and bluegrass.

Poa Annua, for those you who don't follow turf management issues, is also
called annual bluegrass, and is considered a noxious weed in a number
of states.  (It is also not the same as Kentucky Bluegrass, a perennial.)

My wife works as a computer specialist for the Department of Agronomy 
and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska.  The turf management 
guy there keeps urging us to get rid of our tall fescue lawn and replace
it with buffalograss, a species native to the Great Plains.  (Fescue
is originally from North Africa.)

Buffalograss is not considered a heavy traffic grass, though, and
would be totally unsuitable for a football field.
--
Mike Nolan